At my age, I really don’t know why I’m surprised when people do stupid things. In my time I’ve seen plenty of poor decision making, and I’m not exempt by any means, I’ve tasted shoe leather plenty, I’ve assumed wrongly and had my share of ditsy moments, but, and there’s always that three letter word, I don’t understand putting one’s life in peril or others around you. I suppose the Darwin Awards continually need new recipients doing the asinine to win a toe tag and like the comedian Ron White says, don’t call it a loss when someone dies in the throes of a senseless, idiotic, stupid episode. Maybe they were someone we could afford to lose. Now don’t leave negative comments, Ron’s words not mine. I’m not saying anyone deserves to die, but I just witnessed a prime example of people tempting fate and not only with their own well-being, but they were playing fast and loose with other people as well.
Wednesday morning I drove hubby to Chester for Race-week, and on my return home there were a number of bicycles out on tour. They were broken up into small groups, perhaps they do this for traffic reasons, no more than six in a row allowing cars to weave in and out of the clusters along the highway or maybe they were sorted by ability and speed, I noticed a number of the riders in the back were elderly.
Western Shore and Martins River roads are far from straight. From an aerial view they would look like winding snakes, with poor visibility as sharp corners cut the view ahead. Time after time cars gunned their engines, pulled out and passed cyclists on corners, without being able to see what might be heading toward them at 70 or 80 Km. I clenched my gut time after time, waiting for the worst case scenario as drivers took life threatening chances. Hey, I know Mahone Bay is beautiful folks, I live there, but if you’re in that much hurry to get to my town, to the tune of risking death to you and yours, hell, it ain’t worth it.
The cyclists were nervous, looking over their shoulders as cars behind them crowded too close. I was late for work but never considered jeopardizing my vehicle, my life, an oncoming car’s occupants and the lives of the cyclists to get there. At times I was going 20 km and when we reached inclines as slow as 10 km and was perfectly happy to wait until the coast was clear to pass.
One by one all the cars ahead of me pulled out in dangerous situations to get by without passing lanes and visibility. When I became the lead vehicle behind the bicycles with a dozen or so cars trailing me, the closest one almost crawled into my trunk, pressuring me to pass. I’m sorry but I wasn’t about to tempt fate; I obviously have far more to live for than the likes of all those that risked passing at precarious moments.
Unable to wait, one at a time, three vehicles whipped past my car and the cyclists on corners without more than two car lengths of visibility. Once to my horror, an oncoming car came round the bend and the passing vehicle pulled back on their side of road, sending the cyclists off the road to the gravel. There was only seconds to spare from a head-on collision.
The cyclists had to be sh@##%*g bricks because I was. An accident would have caused a major pile up of cars and bicycles. Death comes soon enough without racing towards it at mach speed so perhaps, if you have a death wish, go play Russian roulette somewhere else, maybe use a gun so only you pay the price for your thoughtless actions. Where is common sense anymore? What’s wrong with waiting an extra minute for a safe place to pass? They did occur; I waited and passed with a good view of the road ahead. It can be done!
The cyclists were enjoying the fresh air and exercising their bodies. They should be applauded not run down, side swiped or made nervous because someone has a distorted sense of their own safety while driving in a big hunk of metal. I used to ride a motorcycle and I know there is little respect or thought for bikers on the highway and now with road rage and impatience on the rise, accidents are more inevitable. Really, one can’t even call them accidents anymore. That infers a mistake on someone’s part, a momentary lapse of judgment. This is pure carelessness. Zero consideration for your fellow human beings. You think a flesh and bone body is a match for a 4000 pound vehicle in a head on collision at 80 km an hour? We should all be made to see coloured photos of the aftermath of a car crash and perhaps every two years as a refresher. If more people made driving decisions with their brain instead of letting their foot do all the thinking, it would be a much safer world.
Wednesday morning I drove hubby to Chester for Race-week, and on my return home there were a number of bicycles out on tour. They were broken up into small groups, perhaps they do this for traffic reasons, no more than six in a row allowing cars to weave in and out of the clusters along the highway or maybe they were sorted by ability and speed, I noticed a number of the riders in the back were elderly.
Western Shore and Martins River roads are far from straight. From an aerial view they would look like winding snakes, with poor visibility as sharp corners cut the view ahead. Time after time cars gunned their engines, pulled out and passed cyclists on corners, without being able to see what might be heading toward them at 70 or 80 Km. I clenched my gut time after time, waiting for the worst case scenario as drivers took life threatening chances. Hey, I know Mahone Bay is beautiful folks, I live there, but if you’re in that much hurry to get to my town, to the tune of risking death to you and yours, hell, it ain’t worth it.
The cyclists were nervous, looking over their shoulders as cars behind them crowded too close. I was late for work but never considered jeopardizing my vehicle, my life, an oncoming car’s occupants and the lives of the cyclists to get there. At times I was going 20 km and when we reached inclines as slow as 10 km and was perfectly happy to wait until the coast was clear to pass.
One by one all the cars ahead of me pulled out in dangerous situations to get by without passing lanes and visibility. When I became the lead vehicle behind the bicycles with a dozen or so cars trailing me, the closest one almost crawled into my trunk, pressuring me to pass. I’m sorry but I wasn’t about to tempt fate; I obviously have far more to live for than the likes of all those that risked passing at precarious moments.
Unable to wait, one at a time, three vehicles whipped past my car and the cyclists on corners without more than two car lengths of visibility. Once to my horror, an oncoming car came round the bend and the passing vehicle pulled back on their side of road, sending the cyclists off the road to the gravel. There was only seconds to spare from a head-on collision.
The cyclists had to be sh@##%*g bricks because I was. An accident would have caused a major pile up of cars and bicycles. Death comes soon enough without racing towards it at mach speed so perhaps, if you have a death wish, go play Russian roulette somewhere else, maybe use a gun so only you pay the price for your thoughtless actions. Where is common sense anymore? What’s wrong with waiting an extra minute for a safe place to pass? They did occur; I waited and passed with a good view of the road ahead. It can be done!
The cyclists were enjoying the fresh air and exercising their bodies. They should be applauded not run down, side swiped or made nervous because someone has a distorted sense of their own safety while driving in a big hunk of metal. I used to ride a motorcycle and I know there is little respect or thought for bikers on the highway and now with road rage and impatience on the rise, accidents are more inevitable. Really, one can’t even call them accidents anymore. That infers a mistake on someone’s part, a momentary lapse of judgment. This is pure carelessness. Zero consideration for your fellow human beings. You think a flesh and bone body is a match for a 4000 pound vehicle in a head on collision at 80 km an hour? We should all be made to see coloured photos of the aftermath of a car crash and perhaps every two years as a refresher. If more people made driving decisions with their brain instead of letting their foot do all the thinking, it would be a much safer world.
RSS Feed
